Besides that, I agree that The Spider Lullaby was his last great album, although I do like some songs from the other albums. I think Spider Lullaby still has some of the more classic style, but it's more similar to Fatal Portrait than any of the other albums in that the songs have more of a classic verse/chorus/verse structure rather than the more twisted compositions of his full conceptual albums. Killer and Six Feet Under are pretty bad songs though.
I haven't bothered checking out Puppet Master nor Give Me Your Soul... because I lost interest when I saw that he shared vocal duties with some lady. Even in his most mediocre albums it was kinda fun to listen to KD doing all the voices and shit, I don't want anyone else singing along him. It loses its charm.

It absolutely is, if you think the right direction is drum machines, inferior songwriting, and cheapo digital recordings. And I would certainly accept an economic explanation for those things as well.

Great opinion. My differs from yours though.
But seriously, most albums "suck" because people have different expectations. I don't mind if a band takes a step forward or in a slightly different direction. I don't expect a band to release Part 2 of the previous album. Lots of people who liked "Kill'em All" said that "Ride The Lightning" was a sell out album. If "RTL" sounded exactly like "KEL" those same people would be bitching and whining that Metallica didn't come up with anything new. It's a no win situation for most bands.

As for King Diamond, each album took a different approach than the previous one. Anyone who followed his work from album to album at least should have expected something different from "The Eye". Calling it "inferior songwriting" is absurd.

GMYSP was bad. Again, bad KD is better than 95% of all shit that gets pumped out today but it was a major step backwards from the Puppet Master. I don't want to see the increased presence of his wife on any of the supposed final/next 3 albums.

Agreed to the max_________________There's something I must tell you
There's something I must say
The only really perfect love
Is one that gets away

I could provide examples of the inferior songwriting but it's possible that this thread lowered my IQ so much that I no longer have the capacity to do so. Never vetting the songs in a rehearsal room with a real drummer probably had something to do with it, although the drum machine definitely heightens the "medieval" atmosphere.

I considered this album a disappointment when it came out and it still is to me the first in a long series of albums that don't hold up to the standards of the first four.

When was the last time you got your ears checked? Do you fucking hear the monster riffs, terrific atmosphere and IMPRESSIVE solo'ing there? Also, as stalinorgel says that drum machine is damn tight and very natural-sounding. Nobody even knew it wasn't a flesh and blood drummer til the advent of the Internet and nobody ever suspected it was, which says a lot on the excellent job they did._________________Permabanned